Trouble logging in?If you can't remember your password or are having trouble logging in, you will have to reset your password. If you have trouble resetting your password (for example, if you lost access to the original email address), please do not start posting with a new account, as this is against the forum rules. If you create a temporary account, please contact us right away via Forum Support, and send us any information you can about your original account, such as the account name and any email address that may have been associated with it.

It has nothing to do with dealing with it, because it's nothing new and will continue to happen unfortunately.
The point I wanted to make is that it all depends on the ingenuity of the anime staff knowing the source material is already "gold" and thus it doesn't need any butchering, rushing/pacing issues and anime original filler/ending, because it will not do the original content justice.

Well, that's my point. Just because the source material is already gold, it doesn't mean that they have the resources to adapt it without butchering, rushing, and fillers. They couldn't help to butcher the source material given the limitations in anime adaptation. Anime and light novel is simply different.
Thus when you compare the two of them, light novel (usually) wins by default because they have more materials included.

Well, that's my point. Just because the source material is already gold, it doesn't mean that they have the resources to adapt it without butchering, rushing, and fillers. They couldn't help to butcher the source material given the limitations given in anime adaptation. Anime and light novel is simply different.
Thus when you compare the two of them, light novel (usually) wins by default because they have more materials included.

If you ask me, I'm content enough just by seeing Sachi got animated.

while Anime and LN are different media and some changes are inevitable. A adaption can be done without butchering the story. Of course that is up to the production committee allocating enough money get it done right.

while Anime and LN are different media and some changes are inevitable. A adaption can be done without butchering the story. Of course that is up to the production committee allocating enough money get it done right.

Mmm, I liked this episode. It lent itself well to a 1 episode adaptation. So let's get started.

Our animated episode 4 starts with a quarrel between the Dragon User/Tamer/Master Silica. The novel started with Pina's death (NOOOO!!!) without much context. Following a tragedy opener, the novel gave some exposition to Silica.

Our cute 12-year-old (novel-limited tidbit) Dragon tamer/master/user got lucky with a not-often-used taming system initiated by trying to feed a monster. The success rate is low, and somehow Silica got lucky enough to end up with a pet dragon. She named it Pina because that was the name of her cat in RL.

Pinas abilities consist of small skills like healing and scanning. We saw that in the anime too with Pina breathing on Silica for a small heal.

That little quarrel over healing items happened about the same in both versions. Silica goes storming off saying she won't party with them. How she got into her sticky situation was quite abridged.

That area the group was partying in was known as <<The Forest of Wandering>>. You can't use teleport crystals to get out since they only send you to another part of the forest as a zone effect. Troubles don't end there though.

Linked maps will change if you don't clear each area in a minute. If you don't have a map of the forest, then getting out gets that much harder. Silica's no pro. Luck wasn't on her side that day either. So eventually she gets cornered by the apes.

Proceed to Silica's fight with the apes. Those gourds they were holding are healing potions of sorts. And they were using switch tactics on her. Silica was actually in orange zone when Pina took the hit for her. She didn't just wait for death after that though.

Silica actually went berserk on the apes lol. One ape dies to her fury, and the other two are about to kill her, but then.... APPEAR KIRITO!

The novel translation says 4 days, and the anime says 3 days.... I wonder.... Well anyhow, that's the time limit for familiar revival.

Walking to the pub wasn't much different. Get sneered at by the old party, get heckled by fans, etc... At the pub Kirito gives her some Ruby Ichor alcohol that ironically gives +1 dex. The two head up for the night after that.

Silica does some prep before bed. That new equipment Kirito gave her gets a test run. Where the afterpart differs is that Silica herself went and approached Kirito in a desire to talk some more. The underwear incident had no chance to happen in the novels.

Kirito lets her in. By this point, she had already started calling him Kirito-oniichan, a honorific she had left at -san in the anime. Kirito explains the plan to her, and the eavesdropping ensues. After all the excitement for the night, she falls asleep on his bed.
Gentleman Kirito sleeps with his back to the bed that night.

Morning comes, and the two head up to Floria to go find the revival flower. There's an interesting bit in the novel about the <<Digital Focusing System>>. The DFS basically talks about how things turn up the graphic detail when you focus in on them. It all plays back to how amazing the game really is. That's not what they came to the floor for though.

Along the way to the revival flower, most of the content is the same. Kirito talks about his cousin. Silica comforts him. A warm welcome greets the pair in the form of a vine monster encounter. That's followed by more battles including an anemone monster encounter.

They get the flower and are ambushed on the way back just as the animation had it. Add on that the leader of the guild thought he was cosplaying as Kirito. Sort of implied in saying that a clearer would never be down here, but meh. He backs his talk in both versions.

Kirito puts on an extra threat of paralysis poisoning the orange guild and tossing them in if they don't walk through the portal that he opens to the Black Iron Castle occupied by the army. Both versions have them complying of their own action.

Animation staff failed? Kirito got Elucidator from the 50th boss (info from Vol. 10), in The Black Swordsman the frontline is at 55th floor

Kirito's the one entering Silica's room? Did he awaken to his destiny as a girl magnet?

The only thing that I'd count as a mistake is the moment Rosalia readied her weapon. She didn't have to sit down like the novel, rather I imagined her stabbing her weapon into the ground and smile condescending, until Kirito charges in.

Edit: Possible reason why Elucidator wasn't shown was probably because it was never stated (except in Vol. 10 now) that he got it from the 50th boss, the animation staff simply didn't know.

I would like to add something about Episode 4, and the rest of the SAO LNs.

I find the "you look like my sister" makes alot more sense to us LN Readers, especially after reading Fairy Dance, First Day, and the Original Red Nose Reindeer. Kirito really has a big Imouto complex, and this probably is going to be the state of affairs until the Warmth of the Heart, anime wise.

I would like to add something about Episode 4, and the rest of the SAO LNs.

I find the "you look like my sister" makes alot more sense to us LN Readers, especially after reading Fairy Dance, First Day, and the Original Red Nose Reindeer. Kirito really has a big Imouto complex, and this probably is going to be the state of affairs until the Warmth of the Heart, anime wise.

TBH, I don't really see it as an imouto complex... Kirito closed himself off to everyone, not just Suguha, after finding out that he was adopted. He just regretted how he treated her most of all after that, as she was just a kid too and had no idea what was going on.

TBH, I don't really see it as an imouto complex... Kirito closed himself off to everyone, not just Suguha, after finding out that he was adopted. He just regretted how he treated her most of all after that, as she was just a kid too and had no idea what was going on.

Maybe "Imouto issues" may be more apt. IMO, it was first Sachi and Silica that helped him start opening up, Asuna completed the process, but she did not initiate it, and without Kirito's prior contact with these two, I think it would have been much harder for Asuna.

I don't think he has an "imouto" anything. He's just an antisocial guy who feels a bit guilty for it, so he goes out of his way to help others when he can. He certainly cares about his sister, and she represents his guilt about not being emotionally strong enough to protect others, but honestly she's not really that important to him compared to the others he knows.

And, well, almost every girl he meets is actually older than him, so...

Edit: Not sure if Sachi is older than him or not, but it's mentioned several times that he seems older than he is so girls who are older than him don't treat him as such.

I would like to add something about Episode 4, and the rest of the SAO LNs.

I find the "you look like my sister" makes alot more sense to us LN Readers, especially after reading Fairy Dance, First Day, and the Original Red Nose Reindeer. Kirito really has a big Imouto complex, and this probably is going to be the state of affairs until the Warmth of the Heart, anime wise.

At least they established that she's really his cousin from the start -- because we all know, in Japan incest is okay when she's your cousin.